Feed the Rush!

My obsession with '90s culture continues unabated. My most recent project was to create a replica of a 20-oz bottle of Surge.

Remember Surge? It made its big debut early in 1997. The sickly sweet, citrus-inspired, caffeine-infused beverage's label bore boldly colored, explosive graphics and was advertised nonstop with hyperactive commercials, feeding off of the "extreme sports" fad. BUY SURGE OR GO TO HELL! was turned down in favor of the gentler tagline, "Feed the Rush!"

The logo underwent an unfortunate redesign sometime around 1999, so I opted to re-create the bottle one would have purchased in 1997. Research turned up the fact that the bottle's shape and color is exactly the same as is currently used for 20-oz bottles of Mello-Yello. This set up the first roadblock in my project, as Mello-Yello is in somewhat limited distribution. I checked several gas stations, drug stores, and a grocery store, but none offered Mello-Yello in 20-oz bottles, and only the grocery sold the product at all, in cans and 2-liters. I finally found the prized bottle at a grocery store near my office, and purchased two. Unfortunately the bottle has the new, flattened cap, so I'll have to replace it with an old-style one from a 2-liter bottle.

Making the label was a painstaking process. I pieced together a re-creation of the label's design based on photos appropriated from the InterWeb, then traced over every element of the label in Adobe Illustrator. The final result was impressive, and worth the effort. Photos will be posted when I damn well feel like it. My soul swelled with joy as I drove home in my '98 vintage automobile, sipping my faux Surge and listening to "Hooch."

I never actually drank Surge when it existed. I never have particularly cared for the whole citrus variety of beverages. For me, Surge isn't so much about a dearly departed beverage as it is a forgotten remnant of '90s youth culture. The concoction met its demise in 2002, replaced by Vault, for reasons no one will fully understand.